Annular springs

ABSTRACT

An annular web made of spring alloy and having a suitable cross section provides a radial elastic support between a part contacting web&#39;&#39;s inner periphery and another contacting web&#39;&#39;s outer periphery.

United States Patent 1 Ashikian July 17, 1973 ANNULAR SPRINGS 607,5187/1898 Meyer 152/69 [76] inventor: Baroir Ashikian, B-Ashikian 505Trechelle, Sherbrooke, Quebec, 2,639,752 5/1953 Schehr 152/74 Canada[22] led: 1971 Primary Examiner.lames B. Marbert [2]] Appl. No.: 176,079

[52] US. Cl. 267/182, 152/74 57 S CT [51] Int. Cl Fl6f 1/18 of Search A"annular web made of pring alloy and having a uit- 152/69, 7 7 86 ablecross section provides a radial elastic support hetween a partcontacting webs inn er periphery and an Reierences Clled othercontacting wehs outer periphery.

UNITED STATES PATENTS 488,539 12/1892 Claus 152/74 4 Claims, 6 DrawingFigures PATENTED JUL 7 FIG.5

FIG. 2

FIG-3 FIG.4

ANNULAR SPRINGS This invention pertains to devices providing a radialelastic support between a part and another surrounding it between anaxle and a road or track.

When presently confronted with the need for a radial elastic supportbetween a circular part and another surrounding it, in conditionsexcluding the use of elastomers, the designer has to use a number ofsuitable springs located in the annuar spaced between the aforementionedparts. The resulting arrangement involves too many parts, requires closetolerances in order to obtain a uniform elastic support and it istherefore quite expensive.

My invention is intended to provide a simple inexpensive solution to theproblem of assuring, even in severe environmental conditions, acontinuous elastic support between a part and a second surounding thefirst but not necessarily concentric to it.

The invention consists of a thin annular web of spring alloy having asuitable cross section enabling it to deflect when subjected to a radialloading between a part located in the centered or off-centered holewithin the web and a part contacting the webs outer diameter.

Further features of my invention will be apparent from the followingdescription and appended claims,

referring to the accompanying drawings, which show by way of a fewexamples some of the more common embodiments of my invention.

In these drawings:

FIG. I is a front view of an annular spring.

FIG. 2 is a transverse sectional view on line 2-2 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a front view of a second annular spring.

FIG. 4 is a transverse sectional view on line 4--4 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a front view of an annular spring loaded between two ringsrigidly secued to the spring flanges.

FIG. 6 is a transverse sectional view on line 66 of FIG. 5.

With reference to the drawings, 1 is an outer cylindrical flange, 2 isan inner cylindrical flange concentric to l, 3 is a webof suitable crosssection joining the two flanges with convenable comer radii and 4 is acentral hole surrounded by flange 2.

The choice of cross section is dictated by the kind of application forwhich the annular spring is intended. Flangeless webs having simplecross sections in an arc of circle are more economical to make andshould be used whenever possible. On the other hand, it is advisable touse flanged webs, such as illustrated in the accompanying figures, whenlarge loads. are to be transmitted directly to the annular spring.

The radial load deflection characteristics of an annulat spring dependon the shape and dimensions of its cross section and on the physicalproperties of the spring material after its final heat treatment. Thearrows in FIGS. 5 and 6 indicate a pair of concentrated opposing forcesapplied to an annuar spring fastened to an outer collar 5 and an innercollar 6. The webs deflection diminishes gradually and symmetrically oneither sides of loads application radius.

In applications involving repeated cyclic loading, the operatingstresses should be under those allowed for the desied number of cycles,the springs surface finish must be of high quality, and the corner radiiwell chosen.

The annular springs could be coated with appropriate protective materialagainst any particular chemical action or even made of suitable springmaterial having such resistance.

Individual annular springs or radial elastic support assemblies could beused to provide radial preloading or elastic support between twocomponents such as an axle and a road or track, a shaft and itssurrounding housing and so on.

For some special applications, the annular springs could have featuresdeparting significantly from the aforementioned description and. theaccompanying drawings, without departing however from the spirit of theappended claims. Some of these non standard features are: off centeredhole, no flanges at 11, thicker flanges than the web, flanges ofdifferent widths.

I claim:

l. A circumferentially uniform annular spring formed from a thin sheetof spring steel and consisting of an annular web and of two concentriccylindrical flanges extending from the said web and joining it withgenerous corner radii, said flanges serving to locate the annular springbetween an inner and an outer load carrying elements, said web deformingradially and circumferentially under the action of radially opposedloads applied to its said flanges, and said web and flanges havingsurfaces with a finish of high quality.

2. An annular spring as claime in claim 1, wherein a radial crosssection through the web and the two concentric flanges has theapproximate shape of U letter.

' 3. An annular spring as claimed in claim 1, wherein a radial crosssection through the web and the two concentric flanges has theapproximate shape of a Z letter.

4. An annular spring as claimed in claim, wherein the web and theflanges are coated with a protective material suited for the intendedapplication.

1. A circumferentially uniform annular spring formed from a thin sheetof spring steel and consisting of an annular web and of two concentriccylindrical flanges extending from the said web and joining it withgenerous corner radii, said flanges serving to locate the annular springbetween an inner and an outer load carrying elements, said web deformingradially and circumferentially under the action of radially opposedloads applied to its said flanges, and said web and flanges havingsurfaces with a finish of high quality.
 2. An annular spring as claimein claim 1, wherein a radial cross section through the web and the twoconcentric flanges has the approximate shape of ''''U'''' letter.
 3. Anannular spring as claimed in claim 1, wherein a radial cross sectionthrough the web and the two concentric flanges has the approximate shapeof a ''''Z'''' letter.
 4. An annular spring as claimed in claim, whereinthe web and the flanges are coated with a protective material suited forthe intended application.